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“I’ve missed too many, Jay. There is no way I’m missing another.”
I squeeze her one last time before setting her on her feet.
“Marry me,” I yell.
She laughs giving me a funny look. “Didn’t I already agree to that?”
“Now, Angel. Marry me now.”
She laughs again, “You’re crazy.”
“No, I’m in love, Zoey. With you. I’m also dead fucking serious. Marry me.”
I drop to one knee and pull out a box. This ring is bigger than the other one. A lot bigger. I know she doesn’t care, but I want her to have the best I can give her. And the other one is from before. Before we had to fight for the life we want. Before I had to fight for her. Before we went through hell and came out on the other side, stronger together.
I open the box with a big grin on my face as cameras all around us flash. I don’t even care. “Zoey, marry me?”
“You know I will, Jax. I’ll marry you right here on this fucking field.”
If my grin gets any bigger, my face is going to split in to. I pull the ring out of the box and replace the one on her finger with it. The three-carat princess cut diamond haloed by more diamonds in a platinum setting looks like it has always belonged there.
I pull her to my mouth for a kiss before turning her to the jumbotron. “She said yes!” flashes across the screen.
The entire stadium erupts into cheers. “I love you, Zoey.”
“I love you too, Jax. More than should even be possible.”
“Then let’s get on the plane Rory has waiting and get to Vegas.”
She laughs. “You were pretty sure of yourself, weren’t you?”
I shrug. “Just hedging my bets.”
Then I pull her back to me. I kiss her there for the world to see.
But the world slips away. The only two people who matter are us. We’ve overcome everything that tried to tear us apart. It us against the world, and I’ll take those odds because I will always fight for her with everything I am. We are stronger and better together. She is my everything. La mia bella vita. My beautiful life.
Protecting His Night
Rory
Sitting in meetings with self-righteous, self-important men who think their money or status means something to me is not how I wanted to spend my morning. I much preferred the company of the criminal bosses who taught me to be who I am. At least they were honest about what they are.
The men before me today thought they were better than me because of their last names and their status in the business world. As far as they were concerned, I was a nobody. Too bad I’d just bought their company.
I didn’t give a single fuck what any of them thought. I didn’t get to where I was by wanting people to like me. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The agenda of today’s meeting was to let these stuffy old men know that, as of twelve oh one a.m. I owned their asses.
They may have thought their statuses meant something to me. That I should be intimidated or impressed.
I wasn’t.
“Gentlemen,” I say using the tone taught to me by men who were nothing if not ruthless, “I asked you all to meet me here this morning to introduce myself. I am Rory McCabe. The new owner of Riverside Hotel.”
I watched as these “old money” middle-aged assholes raised their chins indignantly. They were angry that the sale of the oldest and most popular hotel chain in the state was sold below market value without their approval.
“We still aren’t sure this sale is even legal,” one pot-bellied, balding man with beady eyes huffed. According to my sources, his name was Davenport.
